Pennsylvania Cannabis Advertising Laws

Pennsylvania's advertising rule is three subsections long. It requires advertising and marketing of medical marijuana to be consistent with the federal regulations governing prescription drug advertising at 21 CFR 202.1, and requires the Department of Health to approve every promotional, advertising and marketing material before use. It carves out grower/processor product listings provided to a dispensary.

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Advertising by medical marijuana organizations is permitted. Every promotional, advertising and marketing material requires Department approval before use, and the substantive standard is the federal prescription drug advertising regulation at 21 CFR 202.1.

Pennsylvania is medical only. The Medical Marijuana Act, Act 16 of 2016, created the programme, and the Department of Health administers it. Adult-use legalisation has been debated repeatedly, including House Bill 1200, which passed the House in 2025 and did not advance in the Senate.

Advertising sits in a single provision: 28 Pa. Code Section 1141a.50, Advertising by a medical marijuana organization, adopted by Pennsylvania Bulletin Vol. 53, No. 09 and effective March 4, 2023. It has three subsections and contains no content list, no audience threshold, no buffer distance and no warning statement.

The substantive standard comes from the federal regulation incorporated by reference, and the procedural control is the pre-approval requirement.

There is one advertising rule set. Pennsylvania has no adult-use programme and no second framework.

This page is part of our state-by-state cannabis advertising laws library, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The rule in full

Section 1141a.50 provides:

• (a) In the advertising and marketing of medical marijuana and medical marijuana products, a medical marijuana organization shall be consistent with the Federal regulations governing prescription drug advertising and marketing in 21 CFR 202.1.
• (b) Promotional, advertising and marketing materials shall be approved by the Department prior to their use.
• (c) This part does not apply to information provided by a grower/processor to a dispensary listing various medical marijuana products, instruments and devices that the grower/processor is offering for sale to the dispensary.

What 21 CFR 202.1 requires

The federal prescription drug advertising regulation requires, in outline:

• A true statement of information in brief summary relating to side effects, contraindications and effectiveness, wherever an advertisement makes a claim about the product
• Fair balance between information about effectiveness and information about risk, assessed by reference to layout, typography and design as well as words
• No false or misleading representations, including by omission, ambiguity or implication
• The established name to accompany the proprietary name with appropriate prominence
• No representation that the product is safe or superior without adequate substantiation

The reminder advertisement route

21 CFR 202.1 provides that a reminder advertisement calls attention to the name of the product but does not include indications, dosage recommendations, or any representations about the product, and is exempt from the brief summary requirement.

Applied to cannabis, that is advertising carrying the organisation's name, address and contact details without describing what the product does. Material describing effects, uses, strains by effect, or benefits falls outside the reminder category and into the brief summary requirement.

Business name and licence number

Not required by Section 1141a.50. Under 21 CFR 202.1 the established name must accompany the proprietary name, which is a product naming requirement.

The required warning statements

Pennsylvania prescribes no state warning statement. What applies is the brief summary requirement under 21 CFR 202.1, which is a substantive obligation rather than a fixed form of words.

How the disclosures have to appear

21 CFR 202.1 requires fair balance, assessed by reference to layout, typography and design as well as words, so benefit claims may not be given greater prominence than risk information.

When the brief summary is not required

Where the advertisement is a reminder advertisement within 21 CFR 202.1, meaning it names the product without indications, dosage recommendations or representations about it.

Hotline number

Not required by the advertising rule.

Prohibited content

Section 1141a.50 contains no content list. The prohibitions come through 21 CFR 202.1: nothing false or misleading including by implication, no unsubstantiated safety or superiority claims, and no claim without fair balance and a brief summary.

The business to business carve-out

Under (c), the part does not apply to information a grower/processor provides to a dispensary listing products, instruments and devices offered for sale to that dispensary. The carve-out covers a grower/processor communicating to a dispensary, and covers product listings.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Section 1141a.50 contains no price advertising or discount prohibition. A promotional material is within the pre-approval requirement at (b), so any offer must be approved before use and must satisfy 21 CFR 202.1. The Medical Marijuana Act and the dispensary rules contain their own operational restrictions; confirm the position on any specific mechanic with the Department.

Pre-approval

Mandatory. Under (b), promotional, advertising and marketing materials shall be approved by the Department prior to their use. Section 1141a.50 sets no review period, no deemed-approval provision and no exemption for minor or time-sensitive material. Build the approval step into the campaign timeline, and note that dynamic or automatically generated creative produces no fixed material to submit.

What the Law Requires

Section 1141a.50 sets no age threshold for advertising. The relevant age in the programme sits elsewhere: under Section 1161a.30, the mandatory entrance sign states that no one under the age of 18 is permitted to enter unless the individual is a patient or is accompanied by a parent, guardian or caregiver. Pennsylvania's medical programme includes patients under 18, who access the programme through a caregiver.

The federal standard incorporated by (a) is directed at truthfulness and balance rather than at audience age.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

Section 1141a.50 sets no audience composition percentage. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page. Other states do set one: Connecticut requires reliable evidence that at least 90 percent of the audience is 21 or older, and Delaware requires at least 85 percent.

What the rule uses instead

Pre-approval at (b) and the substantive standard at (a). Section 1141a.50 states no composition figure against which a placement could be measured.

Event sponsorship

Section 1141a.50 sets no audience threshold specific to event sponsorship. Promotional material for an event is within the pre-approval requirement at (b).

Where the burden sits

On the medical marijuana organization, to whom (a) and (b) both attach.

Age Gating and Consent

Websites

Section 1141a.50 prescribes no website age gate and no age verification requirement.

Direct communication

Section 1141a.50 contains no age affirmation requirement for direct or individualized communication.

Location-based devices

Section 1141a.50 contains no location-based device provision.

Established customers

Section 1141a.50 contains no exception removing communications to existing patients from the pre-approval requirement.

People Depicted in Ads

Section 1141a.50 sets no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising, states no prohibition on depicting consumption, and contains no cartoon, mascot or celebrity provision.

Depiction is governed through 21 CFR 202.1: an advertisement may not be false or misleading, including by implication, so imagery suggesting an effect the product has not been shown to have is a representation requiring substantiation and a brief summary. Every material also requires Department approval before use under (b).

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

Section 1141a.50 states no advertising buffer. It contains no distance requirement around schools, daycare centres, playgrounds, parks, libraries or places of worship, and no transit or public property prohibition. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page.

Licensing Buffers That Are Not Advertising Buffers

Under 28 Pa. Code Section 1161a.26(b)(1), a dispensary may not be located within 1,000 feet of a public, private or parochial school, or a daycare centre providing services to children under 18, measured from the property line of the school or daycare nearest to the dispensary to the nearest physical wall of the dispensary.

That governs where a dispensary may be sited and is not an advertising provision. The measurement runs from the property line of the protected site to the physical wall of the dispensary.

A dispensary also may not be located at the same site used for growing and processing, or in the same office space as a practitioner or other physician.

Can You Run a Digital Out of Home Screen in Pennsylvania?

Section 1141a.50 contains no prohibition. A placement requires Department approval before use and must satisfy 21 CFR 202.1. Under the reminder advertisement route, a screen carrying the organisation's name and location does not require a brief summary. Local sign ordinances apply independently.

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Section 1141a.50 states no advertising buffer, so there is no facility exclusion layer required by state law.
• Do not carry the 1,000 foot figure from Section 1161a.26 into a media exclusion layer. It governs dispensary siting and uses a property-line-to-wall measurement.
• Section 1141a.50 states no audience threshold, so composition data addresses no stated requirement.
• Build the Department approval step into every flight plan. Section 1141a.50 sets no review period.
• Where creative is not to carry a brief summary, the reminder advertisement route at 21 CFR 202.1 is the applicable exemption.
• Check local sign ordinances for any physical placement, since the state rule is silent on them.

One advertising rule set. Pennsylvania is medical only. Adult-use legislation has been introduced repeatedly, including House Bill 1200, which passed the House in 2025 without advancing in the Senate.

Section 1141a.50 applies to a medical marijuana organization, a category covering growers/processors and dispensaries alike, with the single carve-out at (c) for grower/processor to dispensary product listings.

Access is limited to patients certified for a serious medical condition and registered with the Department, and patients under 18 participate through a caregiver.

Who regulates hemp here

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, under the state hemp programme established following the federal 2018 Farm Bill. That is a separate agency from the Department of Health.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Permitted through general retail. A hemp product within the federal definition and sold outside the medical marijuana channel is not advertised by a medical marijuana organization, so Section 1141a.50 does not reach it. Neither the prescription drug standard nor the pre-approval requirement applies. General Pennsylvania consumer protection law and federal restrictions on health claims apply instead.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

Pennsylvania has not enacted a comprehensive framework bringing intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids into the licensed medical channel, and products such as delta-8 have been available in general retail. Legislative proposals to regulate or restrict them have been introduced without a settled outcome. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026. Confirm the current position before planning any hemp campaign.

What it means for advertising

A medical marijuana organization must satisfy 21 CFR 202.1 and obtain Department approval for every material. A hemp seller outside that channel is bound by neither. Classify each product before building a media plan.

Every statement on this page traces to one of the following:

• 28 Pa. Code Section 1141a.50, Advertising by a medical marijuana organization, effective March 4, 2023
• 21 CFR 202.1, prescription-drug advertisements, incorporated by reference
• 28 Pa. Code Section 1161a.26, Dispensary facilities, including the 1,000 foot siting separation and interior signage requirements
• 28 Pa. Code Section 1161a.30, Access to dispensary facilities, including the mandatory entrance sign
• Medical Marijuana Act, Act 16 of 2016, 35 P.S. Sections 10231.101 to 10231.2110
• Pennsylvania Department of Health, Medical Marijuana Program